Jacques Perrin Movies
The son of a French theatrical director, Jacques Perrin studied acting at the Paris Conservatory. In films as a juvenile from 1957, Perrin blossomed into a talented and much sought-after European leading man. He won a brace of Venice Film Festival best actor awards in 1966 for his work in the Italian Half a Man and the Spanish The Search. Perrin starred in director Costa-Gavras' first film, The Sleeping Car Murders(1965); three years later, he functioned as producer for Costa-Gavras' landmark production Z. Continuing to wear two hats as actor and producer into the 1980s, Jacques Perrin produced the Academy Award-winning Black and White in Color (1975), then went on to play the older Salvatore in the 1988 "best foreign film" Oscar-winner Cinema Paradiso. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1965
The first film directed by Costa-Gavras, The Sleeping Car Murders was based on a novel by Sebastien Japrisot. During a Marseilles-to-Paris overnight train trip, a girl is found dead in a sleeping car. As Paris detective Yves Montand steps up his investigation, more and more passengers turn up murdered. The unlikely climax is the only sore point of this otherwise well-wrought mystery. Bereft of the politicizing of Costa-Gavras' later works, The Sleeping Car Murders exhibits the director's fondness for American "film noir" thrillers. The film first hit Parisian movie screens under the title Compartiment Tueurs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Jean-Louis Trintignant, (more)
- 1964
Catherine Spaak (Il Sorpasso/The Easy Life, Le Treu/The Night Watch) stars as a young woman who is convinced to vacation on a tropical island with a couple of young and eager men (Jacques Perrin and Fabrizio Capuci). While she enjoys her time in paradise, they each attempt to win her affection. Unable to decide between them, she eventually chooses an older fellow (Gabrele Ferzetti. Tragedy soon follows, prompting the young woman to go off on her own. Spaak sings Non e M'eute during titles as the talented and prolific Carlo Rustichelli provides the film's score. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Spaak, Gabriele Ferzetti, (more)
- 1963
The young son of a wealthy industrialist eschews the material pleasures of life and decides to enter the priesthood. His father wishes his son to follow in his footsteps and recruits his young girlfriend to help change his mind. The girl seduces the inexperienced lad, and he quickly falls prey to the material and sexual pleasures of the flesh. Father and son argue over the boy's future as the son agonizes about his fall into hedonism. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alain Cuny, Jacques Perrin, (more)
- 1963
A touching story of brothers raised apart and then brought together under tragic circumstances, this drama by Valerio Zurlini remains true to Vasco Pratolini's novel. Told in a series of flashbacks as Enrico (Marcello Mastroianni) remembers the past, the brothers are separated after their mother dies. Enrico is raised by a humble guardian who works as a butler, his brother Lorenzo (Jacques Perrin) is taken in by a grandmother who gives him all he wants or needs. Enrico grows up to become a hard-working journalist, spending most of his time in Rome. Lorenzo is a young idealist living in Florence with no real need to work. The brothers rarely see each other, but when they finally meet after an extended absence, Lorenzo is gravely ill and dying. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Jacques Perrin, (more)
- 1963
In this Italian drama set during the 1500s, an impoverished youth becomes embroiled in politics when he is falsely accused of killing a Venetian nobleman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1962
In a complex sequence of romantic musical chairs, this routine, New Wave style drama looks at a series of couples that have come together for awhile in the villa of a wealthy tycoon who has a few emotional hang-ups. The business magnate has fallen for a sudsy, superficial actress, but she is not particularly interested in him. Instead, she has her eyes on a writer -- and although he has his own girlfriend at the moment, that does not seem to matter to anyone except the girlfriend. She is ticked off at the actress's attentions to her boyfriend and in pure spite strikes up a relationship with the male half of another couple. He is a womanizer and his girlfriend is rich and spoiled. And so it goes -- until tragedy comes into the picture and ends the ennui. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Françoise Brion, Catherine Deneuve, (more)
- 1962
In this romantic drama, an engineering student is quite upset to learn that his girlfriend has been seeing an older man on the side. In shock, he begins aimlessly walking through the Parisian streets. Along the way he meets a young nightclub stripper who works in a dive. Though she is but a teenager, the engineer falls for her. Unfortunately, when his girlfriend hears about the affair, she tries to break it up. She fails and must then satisfy herself with the older man. The other two remain crazy about each other. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1961
An unresolved love triangle is at the heart of this romance directed by Jacques Bourdon and starring Anna Karina as a woman who takes off for a vacation in Corsica, leaving her lover behind in Paris. While enjoying the sun and sand, she dutifully writes to her love back home but at the same time, she slowly starts to become entranced by a young, attractive local man (Jacques Perrin). Their relationship touches off romantic sparks that eventually ignite an interlude of passion. Unfortunately for the woman, her Parisian lover suspects something might be going on and shows up on her doorstep to investigate. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Karina, Jacques Perrin, (more)
The title character, played by Claudia Cardinale, is a young woman who heads out alone to the big city after being dumped by her lover. She is befriended and protected by her ex-suitor's younger brother Jacques Perrin, who eventually becomes her new romance, despite the difference in ages (Perrin is 16, while Cardinale is...somewhat older). When Cardinale begins a new relationship with a musician, she tries to let Perrin down easily, but the young man is too headstrong for that. When they finally do part, Perrin gives Cardinale a large sum of money as a farewell gift. Despite the fact that Claudia Cardinale subsists off the kindness of strangers in this film, Girl With a Suitcase (originally La Fille de La Valise in France and La Ragazza Con la Valigia in Italy) treats her character with warmth and sympathy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Cardinale, Jacques Perrin, (more)
- 1960
Relying mainly on its elements of sexual encounters and romance, this undistinguished drama by Henry Zaphiratos is about Lucien (Christian Pezey), a young man who longs to find the perfect woman for himself. He is not above actively searching for his female of choice, though he does want a respectable, "nice" woman. Several pretty young candidates arrive on the scene, all in their late teens and all worthy of a second look. But the availability of women does not necessarily mean that Lucien's search is easy -- the story does go on to fill an 85-minute running time after all. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Pezy, Colette Descombes, (more)
- 1959
Heightened by an emphasis on the action scenes and good visual effects, La Verte Moisson is otherwise a fairly standard wartime tale set during the German occupation of France. A group of teen-age friends accidentally get into the resistance movement when a game they are playing turns deadly -- they need weapons to free a partisan fighter, and the only way to get them is by killing a German soldier. Once this deed is done, they are in it for better or worse, a commitment that ultimately leads to more casualties in their citizens' battle against the Germans. Claude Brasseur and Jacques Perrin are effective in their portrayal of two of the young men caught up in the resistance forces. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Brasseur, Jacques Perrin, (more)
